


Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas

by christinesangel100



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Genderfluid Character, Siblings, Thernadiér siblings, genderfluid Eponine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:13:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21956443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/christinesangel100/pseuds/christinesangel100
Summary: It's Éponine's first Christmas since they got custody of their siblings, and they are going to make sure it's enjoyable for all of them. Sibling bonding, written for the Les Mis Secret Santa 2019.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chemicalpixie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chemicalpixie/gifts).



> Hi! This isn't as long as I wanted it to be as I ran out of time, but I hope it's enjoyable anyway. This is a gift for chemicalpixie on tumblr, who asked for Thernadiér sibling bonding. I hope you like it! <3 I've chosen the names Jean and Michel for the two unnamed Thernadiér brothers, mostly because those are names I've used for them before. Hopefully that's okay.

_Have yourself a merry little Christmas, let your heart be light_

_From now on, your troubles will be out of sight…_

Eponine jiggled their leg as they sat in the car, almost as excited as they thought their siblings would be. Cosette grinned next to them, her hands on the wheel. 

“You sure you have decorations sorted? I can lend you some if you need.” 

“No, that’s okay. I found a guide online for making them.” Eponine knew their siblings would enjoy that more, making their own items and decorating the tree. It would probably look a mess - disorganised, chaotic and strange - but it would be wonderful. Eponine had bought some fairy lights for the tree. That didn’t really seem like something you could make yourself. 

“I’ll help you get the tree in once we get back.” Cosette offered. 

“Thanks.” Eponine smiled gratefully. “And thanks for helping me pick it up. Would’ve been pretty difficult to carry it on the bus.” 

Cosette laughed. “Don’t worry. Gives me time to practice driving, I’m just glad you trust me enough for this.”

Eponine shrugged. “You passed your test, and I know you’re a careful driver. It's not like I can drive.” 

The journey didn’t take long, and soon the pair were lifting a Christmas tree through the door and into the living room. Eponine could still hardly believe their luck at finding such an affordable house to rent. They had been suspicious at first, but the landlady seemed lovely, and came around every once in a while to check they were all doing alright. Eponine held the tree as Cosette ran back to the car for the stand, and soon the tree was standing upright in a corner of the room. Eponine couldn’t keep themselves from beaming. When the kids got back from school, they’d be ecstatic. The craft supplies were already set out on the table, and Eponine had tried a few to work out how to do it. 

“Okay, I should go. My dad’s waiting for me to get back.” Cosette said, waving as she got back into her car. Eponine watched her leave before heading back inside. 

It was the last day of the school term. Azelma and Gavroche were picking up Jean and Michel and walking them home, giving Eponine time to make it perfect for them to return to. Eponine headed into the kitchen and grabbed a mixing bowl, starting to measure out ingredients. They’d start with decorating cookies, and then make decorations for the tree over the next few days. 

The biscuits were just cooling when the front door opened to the sound of chatter, Gavroche bounding into the house, closely followed by Azelma, Jean and Michel. 

“What smells so good? Oooh!” Gavroche lit up as he saw the biscuits lying on the cooling rack. “You baked!” 

Eponine grinned. “I thought we could decorate them. Then we have some Christmas cookies for the next few days.” 

“Awesome!” 

“Before that, though…” Eponine gestured for Gavroche to let them out of the kitchen, and they moved towards the lounge. “I have another surprise.” 

Jean, Michel and Azelma gathered around the door to the lounge, and each of them eagerly pushed forward as Eponine opened the door. 

There were fairy lights hung around the room, making it look magical. In the corner was a beautiful green tree, the smell of pine needles filling the air. It wasn’t the biggest tree any of them had seen - the ceilings weren’t high enough for that - but it was the first one they’d had to themselves. 

Before Eponine could blink, their four siblings were inside the room, touching the tree and smelling it. 

“Do we get to decorate it?” Azelma asked, excitement clear in her eyes. Eponine smiled. 

“I thought we could make some decorations over the next few days. I got some lights for it, too. And I thought we could all go to the shopping centre tomorrow and pick an ornament each. Any ornament you want.” 

Eponine knew it was risky, giving them full authority over an ornament like that. It was highly likely that they would be tacky, and that at least one would clash with the others. That didn’t matter, though. What mattered was that their siblings were happy, and at the news they could each pick an ornament, they looked very happy indeed. 

  
Decorating the cookies took longer than Eponine expected. A few got broken and eaten whilst the decorating was still happening, but that was to be expected.  
There wasn’t much time for making tree decorations that evening. The next day, the crafting started in earnest. It wasn’t non- stop - there had to be time for eating, and resting, and watching everyone’s favourite tv shows - but they managed to get enough done that the tree looked wonderful. The angel on the tree was made with silvery cardboard in a cone shape, with a wooden ball glued to the top, a face drawn on. Each of them had contributed - Eponine had made the thin, cut out paper wings with patterns in them whilst the others worked on the main body of the angel, as well as the halo. It didn’t look professional - of course it wouldn’t - but it made Eponine feel warm to see it, and they could tell that their siblings felt the same. 

Another lot of ornaments were made with pinecones and pipe cleaners, with bits of felt and glitter glue, as well as ribbon to tie them to the tree. The end result was messy, but vaguely looked like animals (even if Michel’s contribution of a 6 legged creature with dripping red eyes was slightly horrifying). 

Eponine’s favourite was the little stocking ornaments, made by cutting out two small pieces of felt using a template, and then sewing them together. Gavroche and Azelma were old enough to sew their own, but Eponine did most of Jean and Michel’s for them. It left a little pocket in the stocking, big enough for Eponine to sneak in small chocolates for Christmas day (though Eponine was planning to wait until they’d all gone to bed on Christmas eve before doing that). Then, they wrote their initial on the stocking in glitter, and decorated the rest however they wanted with sequins and little stickers Eponine had found. Michel was absolutely covered in sequins and glitter by the end, giggling as Gavroche teased him about his red nose, calling him Rudolf. 

Not all of the days until Christmas were packed with crafting - that would be impossible to do, and they would all get bored of it. Slowly the tree became more decorated, with the lights on in the evenings. Eponine had saved up in preparation for spending a lot of money this Christmas, including on the bigger electricity bill from the lights.  
  
Christmas Day itself had been hard to decide on. Eponine hadn’t wanted to come up with a schedule by themselves, without taking on the opinions of their siblings. They’d thought a nice relaxing day in would be good, but soon been reminded by the days leading up to it that Jean got antsy if he didn’t get to go outside. 

A walk in the nearby park seemed like it would be simple enough, and a nice way to enjoy the day. Eponine found themselves wishing it would snow. They wanted to give their siblings the Christmas they all dreamed of, now that they had custody. Now that their parents were out of the picture. Unfortunately, none of Eponine’s friends, even the sciencey ones, had yet figured out how to control the weather. It didn’t matter; Eponine was sure everything would be fine. No matter what, it would be better than past Christmases. Their parents had used the day for crime, sneaking off to break into people’s houses whilst they were at church and steal presents. Eponine wanted them all to enjoy it. They weren’t religious, and never had been, but in all the films and stories Christmas was a time for family, regardless of religion. A lot of cultures seemed to have a winter celebration, and this was more a way to spend time together than to celebrate a religion they’d never really cared for. Eponine knew Cosette and her father would be at church, probably with Marius following in tow. It wasn’t something they begrudged other people. Faith seemed a comforting thing - it just wasn’t something Eponine had ever had. Not faith in a higher power, anyway. 

Eponine’s faith was in their family. Not their parents - they didn’t count. No, Eponine’s faith was in their siblings. Azelma, who was just two years younger than Eponine, and doing her best despite everything that had been against her. Gavroche, who had run away multiple times when he was younger, but not once since Eponine had gained custody. And he’d always come back to check on them, even when it meant he had to see their parents. Jean, who was the 2nd youngest, and had looked after Michel when their parents had tried to sell them off to some woman who wanted to pretend they were her children for inheritance money. Michel, who was young enough that Eponine hoped he would grow up with happier memories than the rest of them, barely able to remember their parents at all. 

Either way, all of them would have happier memories now. 

Eponine let their siblings choose when to wake up on Christmas day. They didn’t have to keep to a strict schedule. It was Azelma who woke them up, pushing open the door with a cup of tea in hand, a grin on her face. 

“Merry Christmas, Eponine!” She said, a singing tone in her voice. “I made you this. You might need to come downstairs though, I think the others are waking up and when they see what you did in the lounge, I don’t think you’re going to be able to stop them from opening presents.”  
Eponine took the cup, breathing in the steam. It was too hot to drink, so they put on their slippers and headed down. 

It wasn’t long until Gavroche joined them, with Jean and Michel following behind. Gavroche looked curious, a speculative look in his eye as if he expected something he hadn’t seen yet. 

Eponine considered, briefly, making them wait and eat breakfast first, before deciding that would be too much to ask. Instead, they led the way to the lounge door, and paused. 

“Shall we see if Santa’s been?” They asked, the words feeling awkward in their mouth. 

Jean and Michel were practically bouncing with excitement. “Yes!” Jean shouted. 

Eponine laughed and opened the door.  
Last night, after their siblings had gone to bed, they’d sprung into action. Cosette had helped Eponine knit stockings for each of them, and Eponine had laid them out and filled them with sweets and small gifts. Under the tree was a small pile of gifts. Les Amis had helped with that. Several of them had helped with babysitting before, and the lot of them had bought presents for Eponine’s siblings, knowing there might not be much under the tree for them. Eponine had been saving for months to make sure each of them had at least one good gift, and their friends had made it even better. None of Les Amis had been too extravagant in their gifts, knowing it would make Eponine uncomfortable, but they’d still given small things to make it seem bigger for the Thernadier siblings. 

Eponine had made themselves a stocking too, and put sweets in. They hadn’t been sure whether to do that or not but had realised that their siblings would be upset if they were left out. Gavroche started handing out presents as the others looked through their stockings, and soon everyone was exclaiming over gifts and giving hugs to each other in thanks. All of them had got small gifts for each other. That had been a tradition for years, though until this year it hadn’t consisted of much. Now they’d had more of an opportunity to get things for each other. 

As the day stretched on and Eponine helped their siblings play with Lego, gush about their new books, try on new clothes and eat lots of chocolate, they knew that this was exactly what they could have hoped for. No matter what they ate for Christmas lunch, or what they did with the day, it was perfect. Eponine’s siblings were happy, and that was what mattered. Azelma grinned at Eponine over the heads of the others and grabbed a present from behind the sofa. Eponine hadn’t seen it there, but then again, Eponine hadn’t been looking for presents behind the sofa.

“We kept this one secret for you.” Azelma said and handed it over. “I hope you like it.”

Eponine took it, curious. They’d already been given a few small gifts – all they’d expected, really. None of them had much money to spend on extravagant gifts. They opened it and took out a warm woollen jumper.

“Where did you get this?” Eponine asked, running their hand over the soft material. It felt so…warm.

“Cosette does knitting commissions!” Gavroche said, beaming. “You always say that you love her work, so we thought we’d get you one.”

There was a small note inside, in Cosette’s handwriting.

_Have a wonderful Christmas, Eponine!_

Eponine pulled their siblings into a hug. “Thank you, all of you. You’re all wonderful.” Eponine stepped back and put the jumper on, relaxing into the warmth of the lovely patterned wool. They’d have to thank Cosette for making it later, even if it had been a commission (They had a feeling Cosette had charged less than her normal commissioning price).

The rest of the day passed easily. Eponine had heard others talk about the stress of Christmas lunch, and so had planned something easier. Really, it didn’t matter what they ate as long as they enjoyed it – and Eponine knew none of them would enjoy trying to eat brussel sprouts just for the sake of Christmas. After they’d eaten, they relaxed together, playing board games and listening to music as the day continued.

It was fairly early when Jean and Michel started dozing off on the sofa, and Eponine carefully took them to bed. Azelma and Gavroche weren’t tired yet, and Eponine wasn’t going to make them go to bed early today. As Eponine sat down on the sofa and watched Azelma and Gavroche playing a video game, they knew that it didn’t matter whether or not it fit other people’s ideals of Christmas, or if they fit people’s view of a family. Things were perfect the way they are, and Eponine hoped it would never change.


End file.
